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Thursday, March 17, 2011

Sendai Tsunami/Earthquake More Info

SUMMARY: Who belongs to the agility field, how to contribute, more stunning data, photos, and videos.

Since my last update, I've received so much more info. More than one could possibly absorb or even want to.

Where to contribute

Originally the folks in Colorado set up a fund to replace the agility equipment for the folks whose site was shown in that previous photo, although it's now so clear that the needs are more important, current, and urgent. Tom Kula (USDAA judge & competitor & USDAA's representative for the Japanese agility community) is in touch with the director of agility in Japan.

>>> Tom 3/14/2011 8:41 AM >>>
I am in touch with the agility community in Japan. An effort is underway to
help to raise money and donate to those in need as they rebuild their lives.
Donations made to the link [above] will be transferred to the Director of Agility
for OPDES in Japan to distribute to those most hardest hit by this disaster.
Their needs are desperate (food, clothing, shelter).

I will keep everyone appraised of these efforts and any details I receive from
Japan. Most of you have seen the horrific photos which included a residential
area with a set of agility equipment in the foreground as the approaching wave
of water overtook the homes. The owner of that house is alive. It is these
individuals that desperately need our help.

Please help our agility friends in Japan by a donation and keep them in your
thoughts and prayers.

You may contact me privately with any particular concerns. Thanks again on
behalf of the Japanese Agility community for your help.

Tom Kula

misc@tkula.com

Who belongs to the agility field

This from our amazing Bay Team researcher, Holly Newman:

After two days of trying, I finally isolated the location of the Japanese agility field on Google Maps. Once I got the name of the field (Team Free Ride), I Googled for the website and clicked on the "Translate this page" link. The translation is horrific (and would actually be funny under better circumstances), but it was good enough to navigate me to directions and a map. Then all I had to do was orient myself to the Sendai airport and start scanning the roof colors and shapes.

Go to "38.13435,140.933754" on Google Maps and zoom in. You'll see both the red-roofed house and its slate-roofed neighbor. It appears to be an old satellite image so there's no agility field yet. There's even a street view that shows the house from the street.

The original photo of the field looks like it is taken from the Sendai airport, which is across the river/freeway to the west. The water is coming from the ocean to the east, not the river. When you look at the satellite photo, it becomes frightfully apparent just how much has already been wiped out by the time the photo is taken.

Also, if you go here and look at the top photo (with the before/after scroll bar), the agility house is just barely out of the frame at the bottom to the right of the river.

We have learned that the owner and dogs are fine. Here is the message that has been received from them (website is http://team-freeride.com/):
=================
It cannot speak English.
I'm sorry.
It is our field.

The field is annihilation.
The member is safe.
Everyone works hard.

Thank you.

Tomomi Saisho
=================

Photos and videos

I don't recommend going here if you're already depressed. But the pictures and videos are awesome, in the traditional sense that they inspire awe and fear for the power of Nature.

The following video of cars and boats--and trucks--and towards the end, entire buildings-- being swept away is numbing. There's a quick glimpse of onlookers' stunned faces. (A facebook user who lives in Japan noted: "This is news footage from Miyakoshi (http://bit.ly/hH4b97), 110 miles/180 km North of Sendai. Miyakoshi is a town right on the coast where a river meets the ocean. There are dykes on either side of the river, which is what the tsunami is pouring over in this video. You can really understand why tsunamis are colored black in traditional Japanese art!")

Scale of the quakes

The Sendai earthquake moved the eastern part of Japan 13 feet closer to the US (so Japan is now 13 feet wider) and dropped a 250-mile-long coastal section of Japan in altitude by two feet, which allowed the tsunami to travel farther and faster onto land. More info.

Even today at that list, you can see that they're still being slammed by aftershocks over and over again. Here's the USGS map for that area--so many >5.0 quakes in the last 5 days that they just bury each other.

I captured the list for the day before and the 6 days after the 9.0 quake. Gut-wrenching.

Magnitude 5 and greater earthquakes located by the USGS and contributing networks in the last week (168 hours). Magnitudes 6 and above are in red.